marcuscouch, Author at Psychiatry Tech

The Snoezelen Therapy

At Israel21c we read about the Snoezelen method of Controlled Multi-Sensory Intervention (CMSI) therapy: Snoezelen (from the Dutch ‘to doze’ and ‘to sniff’) is the original and most commonly used tool for the application of CMSI. The concept of Snoezelen was defined in the late 1970’s by two Dutch therapists, Jan Hulsegge and Ad Verheul. While working at the […]

Brainsway’s Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Gets European Regulatory Approval for Treatment of Depression

Brainsway, a firm building transcranial magnetic stimulation systems (TMS) out of Jerusalem, Israel, just received European approval to market its devices for the treatment of depression. The TMS treatment is likely to be used initially for cases of severe drug resistant depression. But we can envision a day when this technology becomes a mainstream therapeutic […]

Experience Schizophrenia with Virtual Hallucinating Goggles

Remember those “beer goggles” the highway patrol used to teach people about drinking and driving? Well, here is that idea on acid…literally. These goggles were designed to let the wearer experience a day in the life of a hallucinating schizophrenic patient so that they may have more understanding and empathy for the mentally ill. Being […]

First Electronic Device for Opioid Withdrawal Therapy Approved by FDA

StimGuide Navigation System for Horizon Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator

Magstim, a company Wales, UK firm that just won FDA clearance for a 3 minute magnetic stimulation protocol for major depression, is releasing a new navigation system for the Horizon transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) platform. The StimGuide was developed specifically for use by clinicians, as opposed to researchers, to help deliver consistent results when treating depression […]

Virtual Reality to Fight Real Paranoia

Did the girl standing by the automatic doors just look at you? Does she think you’re strange looking? Is something wrong with your hair? Perhaps you’re paranoid and are just thinking too much of the situation? Well then, scientists at King’s College London just designed a virtual reality simulation of a subway car to both […]

New EEG Based Test Helps Diagnose ADHD with Greater Confidence

Psychological disorders are usually diagnosed by trained psychiatrists that watch for certain behavior characteristics that are telltale signs of underlying conditions. Experience and a keen eye are often all that a doctor has to work with, often making diseases like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) be inconsistently diagnosed from doctor to doctor. Now a new […]

Machine Learning Predicts Psychosis from Subtle Changes in Word Choices

Researchers from Emory University and Harvard University have developed a machine learning algorithm that can predict an individual’s likelihood for developing psychosis based on their speech patterns. Psychosis may be described as a “break with reality,” including hallucinations and delusions, which may arise from schizophrenia or other mental disorders. The researchers’ work, recently published in Nature […]

After the Pandemic: What Will the ‘New Normal’ Be in Psychiatry?

After the Pandemic: What Will the ‘New Normal’ Be in Psychiatry? | Psychiatric News

Homing in on the Gateway to Pleasure

We were fascinated a few years ago, when we learned that anti-parkinson’s drugs could, rarely, cause pathological gambling, outrageous appetites, and other risky behaviors. Granted, we knew that these drugs (specifically the newer Pramipexole) were dopamine agonists, and that dopamine is involved in the pleasure and reward circuits in the brain, but everything gets a little hazy […]

COVID-19 Lockdowns Bring Challenges for Patients With Eating Disorders

COVID-19 Lockdowns Bring Challenges for Patients With Eating Disorders | Psychiatric News

Deep Brain Stimulation as New Treatment for Dementia

Electro-brain therapy may evoke thoughts of flying over a cuckoo’s nest, but we may all soon be getting a bit of highly targeted deep brain stimulation (DBS) to keep our memory sharp and help push off dementia. Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore implanted middle aged rats with DBS electrodes that targeted the ventromedial prefrontal […]

Face and Voice Recognition Identifies Dementia Sufferers

StressEraser Calmly Accepts Award

Helicor’s StressEraser was honored at the Oscars of Medgadgets, the Frost & Sullivan Awards last week (attended by yours truly): Frost & Sullivan’s 2006 Technology Innovation Award goes to Helicor, Inc. for developing the breakthrough “StressEraser” device technology. Intended for use by licensed psychological and psychiatric health care professionals, this handheld relaxation-training device is able […]

SentiMetrix Uses Artificial Intelligence to Detect PTSD

Aquanauts to the Rescue!

National Space Biomedical Research Institute is sending a team of ‘aquanauts’ to Aquarius, “the world’s only underwater research habitat”, 60 feet below the surface around Key Largo, Florida, in order to investigate the efficacy of stress, fatique, and other psychological tests when performed by isolated individuals and teams, like those who go to space. “The […]

The Use of Social Gaming to Manage Workplace Stress

StressEraser Now Available: A Nation Chills Out

Speaking of fancy pulse-oximeters, Helicor‘s StressEraser is now shipping. It can’t play music or call your buddies, but it somehow has the ability to calm you down in tense situations. And, at a price of $400, the device can give you new things to gnash your teeth over — such as credit card payments. Read on: […]

New Test Superior to MMSE

The Folstein test, more commonly known as the MMSE (Mini Mental Status Examination), has been used by clinicians since 1975 to screen patients for signs of dementia. New research conducted by Dr. Tariq at St. Louis University demonstrates the effectiveness of a new screening tool for detecting mild cognitive decline. A screening tool for dementia […]

FDA Clears Smartwatch App That Detects, Interrupts Nightmares

FDA Clears Smartwatch App That Detects, Interrupts Nightmares | Psychiatric News

NeuroSigma’s Monarch eTNS System for Epilepsy, Depression Cleared in Europe

NeuroSigma (LA, CA) has obtained European approval for its Monarch external Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation (eTNS) system. The Monarch is indicated as an adjunctive treatment of epilepsy and major depressive disorder for patients over 9 years of age, according to the announcement. Daily disposable patches are applied to the forehead and connect to a belt-worn pulse generator […]

Virtual Human Patients Effective for Practicing for Difficult to Present Diagnoses

For many doctors, being able to have a compassionate but frank discussion with a newly diagnosed patient is one of the most difficult parts of the job. Medical Cyberworlds, a Madison, Wisconsin firm, developed interactive software called MPathic-VR that lets medical students and clinicians practice difficult interactions. The software actually looks and listens to the user […]

What’s New From APA Publishing?

What’s New From APA Publishing? | Psychiatric News

A Brief Look at FOCI: The Wearable That Helps You Stay Calm and Focused

At the ITF Conference in Belgium in May, imec director Chris Van Hoof shared with us how mental health is an area of medicine that is underserved and ripe for innovation with medical technology. While they might be more for general wellness, we’re slowly starting to see a new wave of technologies in the form of apps […]

Game-like Brain Training Program First Therapy Shown Effective Against Chemobrain

The FDA has been recently cracking down on certain claims of the abilities of “brain-training” software to improve cognitive outcomes, but the results of a newly published study point to the ability of at least some programs to have a clinically significant impact. The BrainHQ software from Posit Science, a San Francisco firm, was tested by the Survirorship Research Group at […]

St. Jude Receives Patent for Anti Depression Neurostimulation Method

St. Jude Medical has received a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office for their deep brain stimulation technology that focuses on Brodmann Area 25 to treat severe, refractory depression. Brodmann Area 25 is a structure within the subcollosal gyrus region of the brain. It is the focus of the St. Jude Medical BROADEN(TM) (Brodmann […]

KineQuantum Uses Virtual Reality for Real Physical Rehabilitation

Physical rehabilitation can be tedious and boring, and evaluation of a patient’s progress fraught by poor metrics and subjectivity. At the recent CES 2018 in Las Vegas we discovered a new virtual reality-based evaluation, rehab, and follow-up platform that makes it fun and convenient to assess patients, administer various game-based training regimens, and to assess […]

Author: marcuscouch